ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives (6)

Why We’re Afraid To Let Machines Sell: 5 Imperatives for Preparing for the Age of Autonomous Commerce

Posted by Barika Pace on 18 November 2025

Autonomous commerce is no longer a distant prospect; it is actively transforming procurement systems, digital marketplaces and B2B revenue platforms today. Intelligent systems can now interpret buying intent, evaluate margin risk and negotiate terms with increasing sophistication. Yet, according to ISG’s State of Agentic AI Market Report, only 25% of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions operate... Read More

Topics: Revenue Performance, Revenue Lifecycle Management, Office of Revenue - Business Technologies

The Importance of Data in HR Strategies

Posted by Matthew Brown on 18 November 2025

You can buy the flashiest software in the marketplace, win awards for digital transformation and run a picture-perfect implementation project. But if your data foundation is shaky, none of it will deliver. Organizations invest millions in tools only to stumble over incomplete, misaligned or fragmented data. The wall they hit afterward? It is built from poor decisions disguised as “glitches.”... Read More

Topics: Employee Engagement, Learning Management, Talent Management, Workforce Management, Total Compensation Management, Employees & HCM - Business & Technologies

Neo4j Expands Data Platform for Graph Intelligence

Posted by Matt Aslett on 13 November 2025

I previously wrote about the importance of knowledge graphs to data intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI). A knowledge graph can surface information about the relationships and dependencies between virtual and physical objects by providing a structured representation of data that identifies the connections between entities and attributes. This representation of enterprise knowledge can be... Read More

Topics: Data Intelligence, AI & Technologies

Tokenizing Working Capital to Improve Performance and Efficiency

Posted by Robert Kugel on 13 November 2025

Tokenization is an emerging topic for business software providers. Tokenization is the process of representing something valuable or complex with a simple computer-readable substitute to enhance security or improve the efficiency and usability of a system. Tokens are already widely used in commerce. It’s now common for sensitive data used in a transaction, such as a bank account number or credit... Read More

Topics: Governance, Office of Finance, Operations, Analytics, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Procure-to-Pay, Generative AI, AI and Machine Learning, Order-to-Cash, Business & Technologies

NiCE Clarifies AI Strategy in Cognigy’s Wake

Posted by Keith Dawson on 12 November 2025

Analyst summits are not where software providers go to make news, it’s where they seek to clarify and validate what they’ve already done and lay out strategies for the future. October’s NiCE summit in Vienna was an opportunity to take stock of the enormous changes artificial intelligence (AI) has wrought in the service industry and put NiCE’s recent moves into context. It’s no exaggeration to say... Read More

Topics: automation, Contact Center, agent management, Customer Experience Management, CCaaS, Intelligent Self-Service, Customers and CX - Business & Technologies, Conversational Intelligence, NiCE, Cognigy

Oracle AI World 2025: Cloud, Software and Sovereignty

Posted by Jeff Orr on 12 November 2025

Enterprise CIOs are under pressure to operationalize artificial intelligence (AI) while preserving governance, cost control and regulatory compliance. Oracle’s latest Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) software announcements from Oracle AI World 2025 focus on unifying data and AI pipelines, simplifying multicloud consumption and strengthening software‑defined networking to deliver predictable... Read More

Topics: Oracle, IT & Technologies, AI and Machine Learning, Cloud Infrastructure, Compute, Edge, Network & IOT, OCI, AI World

Market Research Insights on Software Industry for Enterprises

Posted by Mark Smith on 11 November 2025

Over the past two years, I’ve led and operated as a practitioner in a sustained, feels-like-a-seven-day cadence to build what I believe is the most comprehensive enterprise software research foundation in the industry. Joining ISG after two decades of being a CEO and Chief Research Officer running a specialized research and advisory firm—Ventana Research—the new mandate was clear: expand software... Read More

Topics: Technology Industry Intelligence

HR Tech Buyer Fatigue Is Real, and Happening Now

Posted by Matthew Brown on 11 November 2025

There is a different kind of friction emerging in the HR technology market today. It is harder to quantify but easier to feel if you are inside the decision-making process. It is not a lack of interest or even budget. It is fatigue. HR buyers are worn down. There is always another demo, another promise of transformation, another set of features that look compelling until you dig into what it... Read More

Topics: Employee Engagement, Learning Management, Talent Management, Payroll Management, Total Compensation Management, Employees & HCM - Business & Technologies

InterSystems Addresses AI and Data Silos With Data Studio

Posted by Matt Aslett on 06 November 2025

As I recently explained, treating data as a business discipline—rather than a technical one—is a critical component of delivering competitive advantage through investment in data processing, analytics and artificial intelligence. As enterprises embrace data as a business discipline, it is increasingly important that the products used for data processing and management enable collaboration between... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Data Platforms, Data Intelligence, AI & Technologies

Why the ‘Messy Middle’ for Office of Revenue Needs AI and Salesforce

Posted by Barika Pace on 06 November 2025

I attended Salesforce’s Dreamforce event in San Francisco to learn more about the company’s expanding vision for artificial intelligence (AI) and its newest capability, Agentforce Revenue Management. Salesforce has steadily evolved from being a CRM leader to positioning itself as an AI-first business platform. The introduction of Agentforce marks the company’s most ambitious step yet in... Read More

Topics: Subscription Management, partner management, Revenue Performance Management, Revenue Lifecycle Management, Office of Revenue - Business Technologies

The Financial Health of the Software Economy: Q3 and 2025

Posted by Mark Smith on 05 November 2025

As an authoritative and trusted source for 92 consecutive quarters, the ISG Index has delivered independent, fact-based insight to Wall Street, service and software providers, and enterprises tracking fundamentals and the quarterly and yearly shifts across technology services and software. As Chief Software Analyst, my view of third quarter is that the software economy (XaaS) remains the center... Read More

Topics: Technology Industry Intelligence

Oracle Shows Off AI Agents for Performance and Productivity

Posted by Robert Kugel on 05 November 2025

The recent Oracle AI World event did not unveil much that was stunning “new” news for its business applications, because much of what has been evolving was presented already and has been in front of analysts for some months. What was on display, though, was steady progress to its advancing capabilities coming out every quarter. The company has focused on the development of agents and an agentic... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Generative AI, Consolidate and Close Management, AI and Machine Learning

AI in HR Software: Where the Hype Ends and Practicality Begins

Posted by Matthew Brown on 04 November 2025

You can’t examine an HR software roadmap today without encountering AI—ubiquitously. Natural language search, skills inference, personalized learning, intelligent automation, adaptive planning, worker twins, conversational agents... These aren’t just new features; they represent a new organizing principle. A new architecture for how platforms structure work and how individuals engage with... Read More

Topics: Employee Engagement, Learning Management, Talent Management, Workforce Management, Payroll Management, Total Compensation Management, Employees & HCM - Business & Technologies

Why I Joined ISG and the Software Research Office of Revenue Practice

Posted by Barika Pace on 04 November 2025

I am excited to announce that I have joined ISG as Research Director for the Office of Revenue practice, where I will lead coverage across a spectrum of revenue, sales and product technologies that shape how organizations operate and engage customers, align go-to-market functions and operationalize growth. This includes CRM, Commerce, Partner Relationship Management (PRM), Product Experiences,... Read More

Topics: Subscription Management, partner management, Revenue Performance Management, Revenue Lifecycle Management, Office of Revenue - Business Technologies

The HR Software Stack Isn’t the HCM Strategy—But It Should Reflect One

Posted by Matthew Brown on 29 October 2025

There’s a subtle but important truth I’ve seen play out across dozens of organizations: HR software doesn’t define your strategy—but it will expose whether you have one. Too often, organizations treat the HR software stack as a series of independent decisions: a new ATS here, a learning platform there, maybe a refreshed core HRIS every few years. Each decision is justified on its own. Each serves... Read More

Topics: Employee Engagement, Learning Management, Talent Management, Workforce Management, Payroll Management, Total Compensation Management, Employees & HCM - Business & Technologies

NetSuite Next: Productivity by a Thousand Cuts with AI

Posted by Robert Kugel on 28 October 2025

Oracle NetSuite’s presentations and announcements at its recent user group meeting, SuiteWorld, focused on an initiative called NetSuite Next, a set of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI capabilities that will be an inherent part of the NetSuite suite of applications starting in 2026. The company’s objective is to facilitate customers’ transition to this AI-centric... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, Digital Commerce, ERP and Continuous Accounting, digital finance, Procure-to-Pay, Generative AI, Order-to-Cash, Business & Technologies, AI & Machine Learning

A Practical Enterprise Playbook to Integrating NHI with IAM/PAM

Posted by Jeff Orr on 28 October 2025

Enterprises with established Identity Access Management and Privileged Access Management must extend governance to non-human identities to protect APIs, services, automation and agentic AI. Effective evaluation of NHI security software hinges on risk-driven prioritization, integration fidelity and measurable outcomes. CIOs, CISOs and IT leaders should align the identity strategy with enterprise... Read More

Topics: Cybersecurity, NIST, IT & Technologies, Agentic AI, PAM, IAM, Zero Trust, Identity, Non-Human Identity, NHI, Machine Identity

AI-Infused Data Management Is Still Evolving

Posted by Matt Aslett on 23 October 2025

I recently explained the significance of data management as an enabler of strategic adoption of artificial intelligence. Data management enables enterprises to ensure that data is valid, consistent and trusted for operational use cases and analytic decision-making. Large volumes of data are required to train models, making data management and data governance critical to AI. Data quality and data... Read More

Topics: Data Management, Generative AI, Data Intelligence, AI & Technologies

Skills Software Is Booming. Do You Have the Data Foundation to Use It?

Posted by Matthew Brown on 23 October 2025

Skills software is everywhere right now. Talent marketplaces, intelligent learning platforms, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered upskilling tools—the market is saturated with promises of personalized growth, agile workforce planning and dynamic career pathing. And to be clear: the vision is compelling. The idea of surfacing internal talent, guiding career development and aligning skills to... Read More

Topics: Employee Engagement, Learning Management, Talent Management, Workforce Management, Employees & HCM - Business & Technologies

Dedicated NHI Security Software: The Enterprise Need

Posted by Jeff Orr on 22 October 2025

Enterprises are accelerating digital initiatives powered by APIs, services, IoT and agentic artificial intelligence (AI), expanding non-human identity (NHI) risk faster than legacy Identity Access Management (IAM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) can govern. CIOs, CISOs and IT leaders need an identity strategy that treats NHIs as first-class identities, integrates with IAM/PAM and advances... Read More

Topics: Cybersecurity, NIST, IT & Technologies, Agentic AI, PAM, IAM, Zero Trust, Identity, Non-Human Identity, NHI, Machine Identity